The Bukovina Society of the Americas NEWSLETTER Vol. 13 No. 4 December 2003

P.O. Box 81, Ellis, KS 67637 USA Board of Directors Oren Windholz, President [email protected] Raymond Haneke, Vice President Joe Erbert, Secretary Bernie Zerfas, Treasurer Shirley Kroeger Ralph Honas Ray Schoenthaler Dennis Massier Ralph Burns

Werner Zoglauer Martha Louise McClelland Betty Younger International Board Michael Augustin Dr. Ayrton Gonçalves Celestino Irmgard Ellingson Aura Lee Furgason Rebecca Hageman Laura Hanowski

Larry Jensen Dr. Ortfried Kotzian Edward Al Lang Paul Massier Van Massirer Steve Parke Doug Reckmann Dr. Kurt Rein Wilfred Uhren Dr. Sophie A. Welisch

Editor: Dr. Sophie A. Welisch e-mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.bukovinasociety.org

MEMBERSHIP A return envelope for the remission of annual dues is enclosed with this mailing. It proved popular last year and resulted in a quick return of dues and donations. For $150 (US Funds) you may join the over 100 members of the Life Club who, in addition to receiving the Newsletter, are honored by the inclusion of their names on a plaque at the entrance to the Society’s museum and headquarters. We also appreciate the many $15 annual memberships as well as the donations to help support our projects and services. Contributions to the Society are tax deductible in the US. The Society is a non-profit organization recognized by the IRS code under 501 (C) 3. This designation is sometimes useful for persons making donations matched by employers, and we can provide a copy of the IRS determination for the Bukovina Society. New memberships in the Life Club usually arrive each year after mailing of dues notices and are recognized in the subsequent issue of the Newsletter. Michael Augustin (Leonberg, Germany) is our most recent life member. Many thanks, Michael. An order form is enclosed of items for sale at the Bukovina Society headquarters. These would make good stocking stuffers and help pass our heritage along.

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BUKOVINA PEOPLE AND EVENTS Wilhelm Fries, our contributor from Müllheim, Germany, has brought to our attention the web site of the Association for the Advancement of the Children of Corlata in a Small Village in Romania: http://www.diekindervoncorlata.de/ home.html> Its goals, among others, includes financial support of the kindergarten and elementary school as well as humanitarian assistance with an emphasis on the medical and material needs of the children. Until their evacuation to Germany in 1940 many Germans (Swabians) lived in Corlata. Those interested in learning more about the project and/or contributing to its efforts are invited to visit the web site for further information. During the Bukovinafest, several donations were made to the Society headquarters library. Lisa Baker (Hemet, CA) donated three books, which she wrote and printed. The books are about the families Armbruster, Schoenthaler and Koenig. Doug Reckmann (Portland, OR) donated materials related to his research of the village of Schwarzthal and Bukovina. Sophie Welisch (Congers, NY) contributed a stained glass picture of the Bukovina coat-of-arms, now the Society’s emblem, which is displayed in Society’s museum in Ellis. Paul and Dorthy Massier (Las Vegas, NV) toured the Bukovina district of Romania. It was a special trip due to relatives living there who assisted in their travel. They then departed from their home to Kansas for the Bukovinafest.

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On October 3 the Society’s Board of Directors hosted a group of twenty-one guests from Holzkirchen (Hamburg and Nürnberg) for an evening in Ellis. These were individuals who participated in housing American exchange students from Dr. William Keel’s program at Kansas University. The group toured throughout the midwestern United States from Boot Hill in Dodge City to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The evening with the Bukovinians was made special by the entertainment of Board member Joe Erbert who played the dulcimer, accordion, and led in the singing of German songs. In departing our country, a member of the group remarked, “I leave the U.S. a different person from the one who came here. Many things now appear to me in a different light; I understand your magnificent country better and have the firm intention to visit it again.”

(néeKutschera), the presiding officer of the Stuttgart District Association and her twelve helpers already began preparations of about 1000 Haluschki on the preceding Thursday. The thick veins had to be cut off the leaves of pickled cabbage heads. While in earlier days the cabbage had been pickled at home, today it is purchased from a sauerkraut factory. Twelve kilograms of onions had to be peeled and diced and when the butcher then brought the meat, it was personally put through the meat grinder. On Friday the stuffing was prepared in the proportion of 200 grams of rice to l kilogram of meat. And then there followed the main task: the rolling up and cooking, which more or less took a full day. Saturday was set aside for preparation and decoration of the dining room and at 6:00 p.m. the great festivity began. After all the guests had eaten their fill, Gertrud Romberger, the presiding officer of the Regional Association BadenWürttemberg and director of the Büsnau dance group, opened the cultural portion of the program. With certainty its high point was the Hora, the Romanian national dance performed in traditional attire. The dance floor was then opened to the general public and saw service until after midnight.

President Oren Windholz gave a presentation at the German Club at Ft. Hays University on November 5th wherein he focused on a brief history of Bukovina and the immigration to and from Bukovina of the ethnic Germans with a special emphasis on those who located in the Ellis, Kansas area. An interesting discussion period followed with the participation of the club advisor, Dr. Ernst Hintz.

But the infirm and the ill, who were unable to attend, were not forgotten; they received some Haluschki delivered to their house free of charge. And those which remained unconsumed after the festivity found ready takers among the many who assisted with the cleanup.

Plans for the next convention have not been formulated to date; however, the Local and International Boards look forward to sponsoring a Bukovinafest and would welcome recommendations on location and format from members.

*On this day the Catholic and Protestant churches honor the martyr Catherine of Alexandria, who succumbed to persecution in the fourth century under the rule of the Roman Emperor Maximinus Daia (310-313). The reason: she refused to participate in a heathen sacrifice and at her defense confounded fifty wise men. Catherine’s life is only legendary, with the texts of her passion dating from the sixth century. Likewise legendary is the tradition that angels transported her body to a convent on Mount Sinai.

1000 HALUSCHKI: THE CATHERINE FESTIVAL IN STUTTGART-BÜSNAU by Michael Augustin (Leonberg, Germany) On the calendar of farming communities the Catherine Festival (Kathreinfest)on November 25* was among the most significant celebrations of the entire year. Farmhands and maids received their pay and it was one of the days when they could change jobs. In addition, animals were taken in from their grazing pastures and this was the last opportunity for dancing and feasting before the reflective Advent season, which mandated days of fasting.

A LOST CHILDHOOD* by Ewald Loy (Aalen, Germany) In this essay the author, born in Gurahumora in 1938, recounts the harrowing experiences of resettlement to Germany, flight from the war zone, and forcible repatriation, which he and his family faced during World War II. After twenty-five years he was able to return to Germany, where he now lives with his wife and son.

It is also in the festive tradition of the Bukovina German settlement in Büsnau near Stuttgart to celebrate this feast day with dancing and a great Haluschki (Galuschti, stuffed cabbage) meal on the Saturday two weeks prior to Advent. The attraction of this event is so great that usually weeks in advance many who wish to attend have to be refused, since the community room of the Catholic Church in Büsnau holds only 120 people. For a nominal 15 Euros there is dancing, music and an opportunity to eat as many Haluschkis as one wishes (and can). These are traditionally served with sourcream and bread.

This narrative attempts to recapture in broad strokes the major events in the five-year span (1940-45), which took my family from Bukovina to Austria, then to Poland, to Czechoslovakia and ultimately back to Bukovina, where I resided until 1970. The happenings here described, based on my childhood recollections and on the stories of fellow participants, are in no way unique to the Eastern European human tragedy, which characterizes this period.

In order that there will be enough for all, Edeltraud Nikelskie

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In late September or early October we arrived in Itzkany near Suceava in Bukovina. Here the tracks are 12 centimeters wider than in the rest of Europe. [This had been a strategic ploy in tsarist times to prevent invasion of Russia by rail. — SW]. From Suceava, farmers from Gurahumora, whom we met at the marketplace, took us to our end destination. In Gurahumora Adolf Hellinger provided us and other repatriates with temporary shelter.

The Bukovina Székely1 Genealogy Project by Elizabeth Long (San Diego, California) Introduction: Who are the Bukovina Székely? In Hungary today, the term Bukovina Székely applies to two groups; the first is the “historical” Székely who migrated from the Székely homeland in Transylvania during the late eighteenth century and lived in Bukovina from the 1780’s to 1941.2 The second is the “relocated” group: Bukovina Székely and their descendants currently living in small villages of Tolna and Baranya counties in Hungary.3 This latter group has been of great interest to Hungarian folklorists and ethnographers because the 150+ years spent in relative isolation in Bukovina preserved much of their Székely folk culture. Even today, their concentration in a small geographic area has made it possible to continue this cultural preservation.4

To secure a roof over our heads my mother gave the mayor a pair of scissors and other items. Finally we had a room of our own: one room in the house my father had built in 1936. There were no windows in the house, no floors, and the balance of the house was occupied by a family with four children who had used any and all wood as fuel despite the fact that there was a sawmill across the street. The furniture the Germans had abandoned in 1940 was now distributed throughout the neighborhood. Some was still in good condition. We were able to salvage a table and two chairs but that was all. Josef “Lapschl” Welisch nailed some boards together to make two beds under which we could store two crates during the day. In this one room seven people ate and slept. Mama, Roland, Helmuth, Marianne, Aunt Roserl, Hans and I.

History of the Bukovina Székely. The Székely, who consider Transylvania their homeland,5 speak the Hungarian language but believe their culture to be distinct from that of the Hungarian-speaking Magyars of the Danube basin. According to Dr. Linda Dégh, “this particular ethnic group is distinguished from other Hungarian ethnic groups by its racial origin, history, and legal codes and by the geographical position of its settlements.”6

Four houses further down the street we discovered our cow, but its new owners did not even give us a drop of milk. One of the neighbors wanted me to tend her geese. By virtue of her tailoring skills my mother got us through near-famine conditions, assuaged by a regular diet of “Tschir” (water mixed with a little cornmeal; a thin broth). Happy, she had been able to retain possession of her sewing machine through all the vicissitudes of resettlement, flight and repatriation. My mother sewed and Aunt Roserl cooked for us all. It was a miserable time. Since all this happened before I was seven years old, there is much I can no longer remember. Perhaps it is better that way. ______________

As for the group’s origin, Dr. Dégh states: The question of the origin of the Szeklers7 has never been completely clarified. Some historians are of the opinion that they are descendants of a Bulgarian-Turkish tribe, and that their culture corresponded, at the time of the original settlement of the Magyars (960 A.D.), to that of the Hungarians. Others hold that their descent cannot be traced to a single source, but that their historic task of guarding the frontier formed them into a unit, The Szeklers themselves have preserved many legends regarding their origins which, however, lack any historic foundation.8 Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Székely, who were situated on the border of Hungary and the Turkish Empire, developed a reputation as skilled soldiers and horsemen. In return for their service as border guards to Hungarian kings, they were granted a series of special privileges, such as exemption from taxation and right to operate under their own organizational system. When Empress Maria Theresa came to the throne in 1740, she attempted to exert more control over this border area and finally in 1761 sent the Austrian Quartermaster General Buccow to organize a border guard of 15,000 Székely to serve under direct Austrian control.

*Translated from the German by Sophie A. Welisch

However, Buccow was unsuccessful in his recruiting attempts, and finally armed conflict broke out between the Austrian army and the Székely. On January 6, 1764, the Austrian army opened fire on some 2500 Székely who had gathered in the Transylvanian town of Mádéfalva, and about 200 were killed. In Székely folk culture this “Massacre of Mádéfalva” is viewed as the precipitating event of the mass migration of Székely over mountain passes to the plains of Moldavia, then under Turkish control.9

The children of Josef (1909-1944) and Angela (Brandl, 19121964) Loy, from left: Roland (1941 - ), Marianne (1944-1981), Helmuth (1942-1968), and Ewald (1938 - ) Photo: Gurahumora, c. 1947

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As did the majority of the Bukovina Germans, my parents, Josef Loy and Angela (née Brandl), along with their respective extended families, joined over 95,000 of their compatriots in abandoning their homeland in those fateful days in the fall of 1940. The conditions they found in the resettlement camps left much to be desired and disillusion soon set in. I recall an Easter Sunday when we were served boiled potatoes with what we sarcastically called Muckefuk, a black brew as a type of substitute coffee. Lining up for food to be dished out in cafeteria style was especially hard on the older people who were accustomed to independence and self-reliance. We slept in large rooms furnished with three-tier bunk beds. My brother, Roland, born on March 1, 1941, saw the light of day in a camp in Scheifling, Austria (called Ostmark at the time).

By January 1945 it was evident that the Eastern front was collapsing and the populace began to make plans to evacuate the region. Everyone who had horses and wagons joined the mass exodus. Uncle Alois was in the Wehrmacht and Aunt Roserl was in a family way. We left Wolfsdorf with the retreat of the last German troops. The happenings between our departure from Upper Silesia and our arrival in Eger (Czechoslovakia) are a blur and beyond my recall. In Eger (Cheb) we found temporary accommodations with a Mrs. Wilfer. At 12:00 noon on a Sunday in May the bridge across the Eger (Ohre) River was to be demolished to prevent the advance of the Americans; however, the explosives were deactivated by 11:30 A.M. and that afternoon the American soldiers arrived. They gave us chocolates and chewing gum, and we picked up cigarette butts from which we scavenged the tobacco. My mother used this to barter for food. How she managed to get us through these harrowing times remains a mystery to me.

After becoming naturalized German citizens, we were offered settlement in the East, i.e., in that area reserved for those Bukovinians considered racially pure. However, the properties under consideration first had to be cleared of their Polish owners, who were either sent to labor in German industries or remained as servants on their former lands. My father, after learning of these conditions, became irate and disillusioned at what he perceived as an injustice on the part of the German authorities. He wanted to return to Bukovina and let everyone in the camp know it. One morning, not surprisingly, he was arrested by the Gestapo. As was customary, the arrest took place in the wee hours of the morning, when one would answer a knock on the door in one’s nightclothes and slippers. Destination: Auschwitz, where he was sent for rehabilitation rather than for annihilation. What my father experienced in Auschwitz he never revealed to us, saying only that he had been warned that any talk about his internment would lead to a second arrest and his disappearance from the face of the earth. Shortly thereafter he accepted the next property offered him in Upper Silesia. It was in Königsberg that my second brother, Helmuth, was born on September 20, 1942.

One day a vast human migration was set in motion. Many refugees fled across the border to Bavaria. But we had no wagon or other means of transportation and aside from that, Aunt Roserl, whom my mother did not wish to abandon, was in the hospital, giving birth to her son. My cousin, Hans Loy, was born on June 21, 1945 in Eger. The Americans withdrew across the border and the Soviets now occupied the region. For a time, they consigned us to a refugee camp from which the people were forcibly repatriated to the country of their origin. There were almost no men in the group. But I can still recall Peter Kaliwoschka, who was a dwarf. In short, they shipped us in open freight cars and returned us to Romania. Whenever the railroad tracks were needed to transport the military, our train was relegated to a sidetrack, where we sometimes remained for days on end. The women hung blankets over the tops of the cars as a protection from sun and rain.

One day, after my father had taken us three boys to the barbershop, we took a stroll through the park. Here he sat down on the park bench, lifted me onto his lap and attempted to impress certain thoughts upon my young mind. Among the many things he said to me that day was that he would soon be going away and that I, as the eldest, should take care of my siblings and help Mama. That was the last time my father and I were together.

While the train was pulled over for an indefinite period, it was customary for the people to disembark and wander through the neighborhood. The engineer alerted the passengers when it was ready to depart by sounding a distinctive series of whistle blasts. All passengers then had about one hour to get back on board. One day when the train was stopped somewhere in Hungary, I took off on an excursion through the town; suddenly I heard the train whistle. However, I was lost and confused, not knowing my way back. At the same time my mother, frantic that I would be left behind, ran from pillar to post, from one authority to another, asking for assistance in finding her lost son. At every stop she heard the same refrain: “A lost German child is not our concern. See to it yourself.” Happily for me I recognized two men from our transport and followed them back.

Six months later all my aunts and uncles gathered for a memorial service in honor of my father, who was killed in action on September 8, 1944 during an American aid raid in France. Three days prior to his death, my sister, Marianne, was born in Wolfsdorf. Later my mother told me that when Marianne was three days old she abruptly awoke during the night to see my father leaning over the cradle. As she excitedly called out his name, the apparition vanished. Was this fantasy or reality?

Whenever the train stopped for an indefinite period, a virtual raid on the local corn and potato fields would follow. The women placed a pot on two bricks, lit a fire under them, and cooked the corn and potatoes. But there were also instances in which the food preparations had to be abandoned because the train was again set in motion. This went on for weeks. At one railroad station a drunken Russian soldier fired a shot at my mother. Thankfully he missed her.

We were settled in the same village as my uncle, Alois Loy, his wife Roserl (née Braun), her father Johann and her brother Felix. I remember them well. My father, a cabinetmaker, found employment in Bielitz, Upper Silesia (eight kilometers from Wolfsdorf), and my mother opened ladies’ garment shop.

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In late September or early October we arrived in Itzkany near Suceava in Bukovina. Here the tracks are 12 centimeters wider than in the rest of Europe. [This had been a strategic ploy in tsarist times to prevent invasion of Russia by rail. — SW]. From Suceava, farmers from Gurahumora, whom we met at the marketplace, took us to our end destination. In Gurahumora Adolf Hellinger provided us and other repatriates with temporary shelter.

The Bukovina Székely1 Genealogy Project by Elizabeth Long (San Diego, California) Introduction: Who are the Bukovina Székely? In Hungary today, the term Bukovina Székely applies to two groups; the first is the “historical” Székely who migrated from the Székely homeland in Transylvania during the late eighteenth century and lived in Bukovina from the 1780’s to 1941.2 The second is the “relocated” group: Bukovina Székely and their descendants currently living in small villages of Tolna and Baranya counties in Hungary.3 This latter group has been of great interest to Hungarian folklorists and ethnographers because the 150+ years spent in relative isolation in Bukovina preserved much of their Székely folk culture. Even today, their concentration in a small geographic area has made it possible to continue this cultural preservation.4

To secure a roof over our heads my mother gave the mayor a pair of scissors and other items. Finally we had a room of our own: one room in the house my father had built in 1936. There were no windows in the house, no floors, and the balance of the house was occupied by a family with four children who had used any and all wood as fuel despite the fact that there was a sawmill across the street. The furniture the Germans had abandoned in 1940 was now distributed throughout the neighborhood. Some was still in good condition. We were able to salvage a table and two chairs but that was all. Josef “Lapschl” Welisch nailed some boards together to make two beds under which we could store two crates during the day. In this one room seven people ate and slept. Mama, Roland, Helmuth, Marianne, Aunt Roserl, Hans and I.

History of the Bukovina Székely. The Székely, who consider Transylvania their homeland,5 speak the Hungarian language but believe their culture to be distinct from that of the Hungarian-speaking Magyars of the Danube basin. According to Dr. Linda Dégh, “this particular ethnic group is distinguished from other Hungarian ethnic groups by its racial origin, history, and legal codes and by the geographical position of its settlements.”6

Four houses further down the street we discovered our cow, but its new owners did not even give us a drop of milk. One of the neighbors wanted me to tend her geese. By virtue of her tailoring skills my mother got us through near-famine conditions, assuaged by a regular diet of “Tschir” (water mixed with a little cornmeal; a thin broth). Happy, she had been able to retain possession of her sewing machine through all the vicissitudes of resettlement, flight and repatriation. My mother sewed and Aunt Roserl cooked for us all. It was a miserable time. Since all this happened before I was seven years old, there is much I can no longer remember. Perhaps it is better that way. ______________

As for the group’s origin, Dr. Dégh states: The question of the origin of the Szeklers7 has never been completely clarified. Some historians are of the opinion that they are descendants of a Bulgarian-Turkish tribe, and that their culture corresponded, at the time of the original settlement of the Magyars (960 A.D.), to that of the Hungarians. Others hold that their descent cannot be traced to a single source, but that their historic task of guarding the frontier formed them into a unit, The Szeklers themselves have preserved many legends regarding their origins which, however, lack any historic foundation.8 Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Székely, who were situated on the border of Hungary and the Turkish Empire, developed a reputation as skilled soldiers and horsemen. In return for their service as border guards to Hungarian kings, they were granted a series of special privileges, such as exemption from taxation and right to operate under their own organizational system. When Empress Maria Theresa came to the throne in 1740, she attempted to exert more control over this border area and finally in 1761 sent the Austrian Quartermaster General Buccow to organize a border guard of 15,000 Székely to serve under direct Austrian control.

*Translated from the German by Sophie A. Welisch

However, Buccow was unsuccessful in his recruiting attempts, and finally armed conflict broke out between the Austrian army and the Székely. On January 6, 1764, the Austrian army opened fire on some 2500 Székely who had gathered in the Transylvanian town of Mádéfalva, and about 200 were killed. In Székely folk culture this “Massacre of Mádéfalva” is viewed as the precipitating event of the mass migration of Székely over mountain passes to the plains of Moldavia, then under Turkish control.9

The children of Josef (1909-1944) and Angela (Brandl, 19121964) Loy, from left: Roland (1941 - ), Marianne (1944-1981), Helmuth (1942-1968), and Ewald (1938 - ) Photo: Gurahumora, c. 1947

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Over the years, the Austrian military made numerous attempts to round up the Székely “deserters” in Moldavia10 but in 1774 decided instead to offer them amnesty if they would agree to settle in Bukovina, which Austria had recently acquired from the Ottoman Empire. In 1776, the first two Székely villages, Istensegíts and Fogadjisten, were founded, followed by Hadikfalva and Józseffalva in 1785, then finally Andrásfalva in 1786.11

Donauschwaben (Danube Swabians, i.e,; ethnic Germans) who had settled in the area during the 1700’s but were deported to Germany after the end of World War II. Cultural Preservation: Because of the high concentration of Bukovina Székely in a small geographic area, it has been possible to preserve many of the cultural traditions of the group. Their organization, the Székely Szövetség, holds an annual conference in Tolna County with presentations on the group’s history, folklore, and crafts. The cultural identity of the group remains strong. The Bukovina Székely Genealogical Database. In 1999 László Rudolf from Bátaszék, Hungary, and Elizabeth Long from the United States “met” via the internet. Each had been working on a computerized database of birth, death and marriage records of the Bukovina Székely. László’s mother, Zsófia Ferenc, was born in the Bukovina village of Józseffalva, while the grandmother of Beth’s husband was born in Andrásfalva, so these were the villages with which each started. Beth worked with “Family Treemaker” software, while László, a computer programmer, used a program he had written himself.12

Bukovina Székely Migration: 1764-1948 Emigration from Bukovina. As with the neighboring German villages, by the 1880’s the Székely villages had become severely overpopulated, and the size of landholdings had diminished to the point where the average plot could not support a family. During this period, when the first of the Bukovina German immigration to the “New World” began, the Székely at first migrated within Europe to such places as the Vojvodina and the area around Déva, Romania. In 1905/06, the first Székely immigration to Canada began, and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The earliest immigrants went to the town of Eszterhazy, Saskatchewan, but by 1909 the main destination had become Cupar, Saskatchewan, where the newcomers homesteaded in the Arbury district. There was also some postwar immigration to Canada; some joined relatives who had previously immigrated to Arbury, while others headed for industrial jobs in Ontario. There was also a small amount of immigration to Brazil during the 1920’s, but only a few individuals who came directly to the United States. Bukovina Székely Resettlement in 1941 and 1946/47. In 1941 the entire population of the five Székely villages (2828 families, or 13,198 individuals) accepted an offer of resettlement by the Hungarian government. They were relocated to the Bácska (Vojvodina), an area assigned to Yugoslavia after World War I but ceded to Hungary by its ally Germany at the beginning of World War II. When the tide of the war turned in October, 1944, the Székely had to flee their new location and head for Hungary, where they wandered for over two years in the war’s aftermath until finally being resettled a second time in their present home. Today, many descendants of the Bukovina Székely live in a group of small villages in Tolna and Baranya counties of south-central Hungary. Ironically, many occupy homes which once belonged to

Since László knew the location of the Andrásfalva Roman Catholic Church records (which were not microfilmed by the LDS), he was able to make copies of all 3200 pages from the originals held at the Catholic Church in Aparhant, Hungary. Beth then began entering these records into her computerized database. Roman Catholic records of the other four villages (and the Andrásfalva Reform Protestant records) are available on microfilm through LDS Family History Centers and at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. They can also be found at the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest. In addition to parish registers, a detailed Status Animarum, or census, exists for each village (with the exception of Józseffalva). These were prepared in either 1907 or 1910, depending on the village. In many cases the priest added annotations up through the 1920s and sometimes even as late as the 1940s. At present the Bukovina Székely database contains over 30,000 individuals, including descendants in Hungary, Romania, Canada, Brazil, the United States, Sweden, and Australia. Many Bukovina-German families (primarily from Altfratautz), who are connected to the Székely by marriage, are included in the database as well. Eventually, it will have between about 70,000- 80,000 entries when extraction of all the parish registers is complete. Other Aspects of the Project. László made two trips to the United States (to the FEEFHS conference in Salt Lake City in 2000 and its 2002 conference in Regina, Saskatchewan). Since the majority of Bukovina Székely descendants in North America live in the vicinity of Regina, this latter trip was particularly interesting for him.

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Beth has reviewed Canadian ships’ manifests and so far has extracted records of about six hundred Bukovina Székely who immigated to Saskatchewan between 1905 and 1914. She is hoping to publish this data as a small book at some point in the future. She is also extracting the church records of St. Ann’s of Arbury, the parish that served many of the Bukovina Székely homesteaders in Saskatchewan. Bukovina Székely immigrants there married mainly within their own group up through the 1940s and have maintained a closeknit community in and around Regina, Saskatchewan.

THE VILLAGE OF ALTHÜTTE IN NORTHERN BUKOVINA Norbert Gaschler, “Althütte: The Beginnings” in Erinnerungen an Althütte, Bukowina [Memories of Althütte, Bukovina], ed. Walter Ernst, trans. Sophie A Welisch (Augsburg: Querfurt, 2002), pp. 40-41. Much has been written about the life and fate of the people of Bukovina and about the region. Although we are here concerned with a period of time over several generations, it is nonetheless interesting to learn how a German ethnic group survived the blows of fate and the consequences of war. After the annexation of the land by the Austrians there took place an increased immigration of various ethnic groups, such as Ukrainians (Ruthenians), Lippovanians, Romanians, Germans, Poles, Slovaks, Jews, Hungarians and Armenians. In order to facilitate commerce Austrian pioneering troops as early as 1777-1778 constructed a highway called Herrenstrasse, linking Czernowitz via Storojenets, Krasna-Ilski, Oberwikow and Dorna-Watra with Transylvania. Lured by recruitment promises, German-Bohemian glass blowers, lumbermen and other craftsmen from Somersdorf and Stoickern as well as from the Prachin District of the Bohemian Forest immigrated to Bukovina. The migration of our forebears took place in several stages, which is also evidenced by extant ancestry charts of Althütte’s families. Linked with the glass factory in Althütte and the founding of the village are families with the surnames of Adelsberger, Aschenbrenner, Baierl, Beck, Drexler, Erl, Ernst, Hartinger, and Zawichowski. Aside from specialists in glass production, the group included foresters, conveyors of timber and craftsmen including masons, coopers, carpenters and blacksmiths. The “Hartinger’ families were also estate administrators in neighboring villages. Until recent times one could identify the occupation of the descendants of the individual families. The Adelsbergers were workers in wood such as cabinetmakers and carpenters or worked in the forest as overseers and gamekeepers. The families of Baierl, Hlady, Pscheidt, Riedl, Stadler, Straub and Zahn participated in agriculture and cattle raising but also served as conveyors of lumber and as craftsmen. The Linzmeier families in Althütte were specialists in weaving, which they did at their homemade looms. Several women in Althütte worked as selfemployed seamstresses. The extended families were concerned that their children learn a viable trade. The three eldest sons of the long-time mayor of Althütte, Julius Stadler, also learned trades, which they carried out successfully: Anton as master mason, Friederich as master tailor, and Lorenz as master shoemaker. This example is replicated in most Althütte families. At the time of the opening of the glass factory and until 1878 Althütte was administratively linked with the neighboring community of Krasna Putna. In 1820, when the glass installation closed, its employees had to learn another skill.

John and Mary Buzás, in Saskatchewan, 1929 The couple came from the village of Istensegíts Beth plans to retire from her “day job” in late 2004 and hopes to spend several months a year pursuing Bukovina research in Hungary, Transylvania, Bukovina, and Vienna. ____Notes 1

Pronounced “Say-kay” In 1941 the inhabitants of the five villages were resettled by the Hungarian government in Bácska(Vojvodina) but remained there only four years. 3 This second resettlement took place in 1946-47. 4 An active cultural organization called the Székely Szövetség (based in Tolna County, Hungary) sponsors a variety of activities, conferences, trips to Bukovina, and records preservation projects. 5 Szekélyföld is the Hungarian term for the Székely homeland. It encompasses the former Hungarian counties of Maros-Torda, Udvarhely, Csík, and Háromszék. 6 Linda Dégh, Folktales and Society: Storytelling in a Hungarian Peasant Community (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969), 3. 7 Szekler is the term used by German writers for the Hungarian term Székely. Dégh’s book, Folklore and Society, was originally written in German. 8 Dégh,3. 9 In reality, there were also economic factors which contributed to this migration. 10 Raimund Friedrich Kaindl, Das Ansiedlungswesen in der Bukowina seit der Besitzergreifung durch Österreich (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner’schen Universitäts–Buchlandlung, 1902), 243-262. 11 Alajos Sántha, Bukovinai Magyarok (Kolozsvár: Szõcs Lajos Könyvnyomdájában, 1942), 36, 40, 49, 56. 12 Both are now combined into a single Family Tree Maker database. 2

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